Abstract

Under defined growth conditions ferromagnetic hexagonal precipitates are formed in cubic epilayers. To study the topotaxial relationship of these nanomagnets we perform x-ray diffraction experiments in coplanar as well as in grazing incidence geometries at synchrotron sources. Additionally, to the well defined topotaxial relation derived for buried nanomagnets deep within the Ge layer, we found an additional class of precipitates very close to the surface, with larger inclusion diameter and several different crystallographic orientations with respect to the buried ones.

Received 17 April 2009Accepted 05 June 2009Published online 13 July 2009

Acknowledgments:

Work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF (Grant No. P18942-N20), by DFG via SPP 1285, and MSM 0021620834 of the Czech Republic. The XRD experiments were performed at beamlines ID01 and ID31 (ESRF) with the help of T. H. Metzger and A. Fitch, respectively.